Opinion

There are some moments in Jewish history when shades of grey disappear and Jews of all political and religious persuasion understand instinctively exactly what they must do. For the Jews in America, such a rare moment occurred on Monday, April 15, 2002.

After a year and a half of its citizens being maimed and killed by shootings and suicide bombers the Israeli government decided that it was time to launch a massive military campaign to eliminate the Palestinian terrorists, their weapon factories and infrastructure. As the Israeli military was beginning to achieve these goals, the world and our own government suddenly took pity on the poor "innocent" Palestinians and demanded an immediate Israeli withdrawal from the Palestinian areas - a withdrawal that would have left much of the terrorist infrastructure intact.

At that moment in history, on April 15, 2002, we, the Jews in America, understood that we too here in America, have a job to do - to organize and participate in a massive demonstration in our nations’s capital, and express our united support for the State of Israel. We all understood this, all of us - except for some key decision makers in the upper echelons of Agudas Yisroel.

Why Agudah did not participate. What caused Agudas Yisroel to lose its moral compass, to equivocate and fail to stand with klall yisroel at this urgent crisis? Rabbi Avi Shafran, writing in the Jewish Week, rationalizes that Agudas Yisroel never participates in collaborative demonstrations where it cannot control who will speak and what will be said. One would imagine that Agudas Yisroel’s greatest nightmare is that it would be forced to share a platform with some Reform, lesbian Rabbi, and that this collaborative effort would be seen as a defacto endorsement by Agudas Yisroel of deviant behavior and false religious values.

The reason given by Agudas Yisroel is only part of the truth. After all, Agudas Yisroel would never be mistaken for an organization that endorses anything other than right wing chareidi Orthodoxy. Aguda’s position vis-a-vis Conservative or Reform is well documented and eloquently argued by its public relations arm, Am Echud and in its various newsletters and magazines.

Why then was Agudas Yisroel afraid to participating in a solidarity rally on behalf of the State of Israel? I believe that it is because Agudas Yosroel has never resolved its feelings and its policies toward the State if Israel. What does Agudas Yisroel believe about Zionism and the State of Israel? Is modern Zionism a legitimate yearning of the Jewish people or is it an abomination created by secular Jews. Is the State of Israel one of the best things that happened to the Jewish people or would they rather that all the Jews live in any country other than Israel? Is the concept of a Jewish State before the advent of the Mesiah in accordance with halacha or is it one of the greatest sins? Aguda’s failure to honestly address and answer these questions accounts for its ambivalent and often hostile attitude toward the State of Israel. This ambivalence is evident in almost every issue of its newsletters and magazines. Take for example the term, "State of Israel." Among the thousands of references in Agudah periodicals you will almost never see this term. The preferred term is, Eretz Yisroel (see for example the index page of the March, 2002 Jewish Observer) or simply Israel. Agudas Yisroel has not yet decided whether or not it recognizes the State of Israel.

Aguda’s ambivalence is also evident in its predominant negative and inflammatory articles toward the State of Israel. Ask yourself, have you ever seen an article in any Aguda publication that had something positive to say about the State of Israel? On the other hand, there is never a shortage of articles attacking the State of Israel for some real or imagined injustice. Take for example the inflammatory headline on page three of the April 2002, Coalition: "Dismay Conveyed Over Failure to Rectify Flight-Path Problem." Dismay and Failure are both emotionally charged words, words that provide Agudas Yisroel with yet another opportunity to bash the State of Israel.

I believe it is safe to conclude that what Aguda feared most about the April 15th solidarity rally is that Rabbi Bloom or Dovid Zwiebel or some other dignitary of theirs would be photographed with the flag of the State of Israel fluttering happily in the background. That image would have caused people to assume that Agudas Yisroel supports the State of Israel and that is what Agudah feared most, and that is why Aguda was paralyzed when it needed to make a decision (perhaps one of their most important decisions ever) to support the Jews in the State of Israel.

What was lost by Aguda’s failure to participate? Not the State of Israel. The rally was a success and happily, a surprisingly large contingent of Orthodox Jews were present - despite Aguda’s ambivalence. So who lost? The Agudah was definitely one of the great losers. All these years we have been led to believe that Aguda has a full-time lobbyist in Washington fighting for our rights. Sadly, we now know the truth. When Agudas Yisroel was needed most in Washington they were nowhere to be found. So who needs Aguda and its Washington lobbyist?

But it isn’t Aguda’s loss that upsets me. Agudah is an organization and organizations come and go. If Aguda makes itself irrelevant it will soon become just that. Or perhaps Agudah will abandon politics and do what it does best - provide social services to the Orthodox Jewish community.

The great losers, unfortunately, were kovod ha-rav and kovod ha-torah. Never before have so many Orthodox Jews been so outraged and turned-off by a decision made by an Orthodox Jewish organization, an organization that claims that their decisions are made by the moetzes g’dolei ha-torah, the leading rabonim of our generation.